HERBERT VERE EVATT
G'day folks,
Herbert Vere Evatt, KC KStJ, usually known as H. V. Evatt or Bert
Evatt, and often as "Doc" Evatt on account of his Doctor of Laws degree,
was an Australian judge, lawyer, parliamentarian and writer.
Childhood and education
Herbert
Vere Evatt, known as Bert, was born on 30 April 1894 in East Maitland, NSW, the
fifth son of a publican, John Evatt, and his wife Jeanie. John Evatt died when
Bert was seven leaving him to play a major role in the upbringing of his three
younger brothers. Two of them, Ray and Frank, were killed in the First World
War. Their deaths had a profound effect on Bert and brought home to him at an
early age the tragedy of war.
Evatt was
educated at Fort Street High School, Sydney, and the University of Sydney. He
was a brilliant scholar and attained the degress of B.A. (triple first-class
honours and University Medal), M.A., LL.B. (first class honours and University
Medal), LL.D. and D. Litt.
He was
admitted to the Sydney bar in 1918, taking silk in 1929.
In 1920
Evatt married Mary Alice Sheffer, a student of Architecture, and the daughter
of an American businessman. Mary Alice had come to Australia as a small child
and she was to remain Evatt's constant companion.
Evatt
joined the Labor Party in 1925, entering NSW State Parliament as the MLA for
Balmain.
He left
state politics when in 1930, at the age of 36, he was appointed a justice of
the High Court of Australia, the youngest person to be appointed to such a
position. Evatt quickly distinguished himself as a brilliant and liberal judge
and a respected author in the fields of law and history.
In 1940
Evatt resigned from the High Court, standing as a federal Labor Party candidate
and winning the Sydney seat of Barton at the elections of the same year. When
Labor gained power under John Curtin in 1941, Evatt was appointed
Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs. From 1946 to 1949 he was
Deputy Prime Minister to Ben Chifley.
During
the war years Evatt led many important overseas missions for the Australian
government. He was instrumental in bringing home Australian troops from the
Middle East and in securing military aircraft to support Australia's war effort
in the Pacific. During his years as Minister for External Affairs, Evatt
completely reorganized the department and laid the foundations for an active
and independent Australian foreign policy. He championed the cause of the
smaller nations having a voice, alongside the great powers, on questions of
international and global significance.
He was a
member of the San Francisco Conference in 1945 which drew up the United Nations
Charter and the leader of the Australian delegation to the Paris Peace
Conference in 1946.
Evatt was
Chairman of the Far Eastern Commission, USA, 1945; President of the South
Pacific Regional Conference, Canberra, 1947; and Chairman of the British
Commonwealth Conference on the Japanese Peace Treaty, 1947.
Evatt led
the Australian delegation to the United Nations in 1946, 1947 and 1948 and was
elected President of the General Assembly at its Third Session from 1948-49. He
was the first chairman of the UN Atomic Energy Commission and chairman of the
Palestine Commission.
In 1949
Labor lost the federal election to R.G. Menzies and the Liberal Party and the
rest of Evatt's parliamentary life was spent in opposition.
In 1950
Menzies introduced the Communist Party Dissolution Bill which gave power to the
government to publicly declare any citizen a Communist and to bar him or her
from holding office in a range of public organizations, including trade unions.
Evatt successfully contested this Act in the High Court where it was declared
unconstitutional.
When
Chifley died in June 1951, Evatt was elected the new leader of the Labor Party
and held this position throughout a tumultuous period of Australian political
history. Evatt successfully campaigned for the "No" vote in the
Referendum of September 1951 in which the Menzies Government sought to ban the
Communist Party of Australia.
In 1954
the defection to Australia of a senior Soviet diplomat, Vladimir Petrov, and
the subsequent Royal Commission into Espionage revived fears of Communism and
the Soviet Union in the Australian electorate and contributed to the defeat of
the ALP in the 1954 Federal elections. The split which occurred in the ALP in
the mid 1950s and which led to the formation of the Democratic Labor Party
weakened the ALP's chances of regaining power.
In 1960
Evatt retired from politics and took up the position of Chief Justice of New
South Wales. Ill health forced him to retire in 1962. He died in Canberra on 2
November, 1965, aged 71.
Clancy's comment: An imposing man with much talent. As a child, I recall being a witness to the arrest of Petrov as we travelled to church one Sunday morning. It was a case of right spot, right time.
I'm ...
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